


Can You See The Truth?

by fineandwittie



Category: The Fast Saga, The Fast and the Furious (2001)
Genre: Angst, Domestic Violence, Gen or Pre-Slash, If someone is hurting you please get help, M/M, Not for Letty fans, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:32:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24699121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fineandwittie/pseuds/fineandwittie
Summary: Brian confronts Dom about the nature of his relationship with Letty.
Relationships: Brian O'Conner/Dominic Toretto
Comments: 6
Kudos: 175





	Can You See The Truth?

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to write porn, but this is what happened. I don't even know.
> 
> Unbeta'd.

“Man, I can’t believe you’d go out with someone like that. She’s insane.”

Dom scowled at Brian’s tone. “The fuck are you talking about, Brian?”

He turned to see that Brian was watching him, eyes narrowed, leaning against the car he’d been working on. “Letty, man. She’s kind of a bitch. And by kind of, I mean she’d a raging jealous bitch who might as well have pissed all over you. And you just…let her.” 

Dom’s scowl darkened further and crossed his arms over his chest, but didn’t respond.

Brian continued, examining Dom’s defensive body language. “Seriously, Dom. You so much as glance at another woman and she starts snarling. You actually talk to someone at one of the races? Letty’s just as likely to take their head off as she is to take her next breath. That first night, after the race and the cops and the Trans, she basically ignored whatever you were feeling and demanded you fuck her. In the middle of a party. You were fucking wiped. You looked raw, man, and you said no. She wouldn’t accept that. Dude. That’s just…not a healthy relationship.”

“Fuck you, O’Connor. What do you know about it?” Dom started to turn away, but Brian was up and by his side before he even dropped his arms. 

“I know that she’s emotionally and physically isolating you. I know that she no longer allows you to say no to things. I know _abuse_ when I see it, Dom. Just because you’re bigger than her, doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Just because she doesn’t hit you, doesn’t mean—“ Brian froze, mid-sentence. Dom had jerked, as though he’d been shocked, and swallowed visibly. 

Brian stared at him for a long, silent moment. Dom stared back, eyes dark and blank. “She does, doesn’t she? She hits you? Jesus.”

Dom flinched again. “That’s not…She doesn’t...” He shook his head.

Brian took a slow breath, trying to get himself under control. He wanted to hit something, preferably Letty. “Dominic, does Letty hit you?”

Dom shrugged, gaze sliding off to rest somewhere over Brian’s shoulder. “She’d fucking tiny, man. It’s not like it hurts.”

Brian closed his eyes, praying for strength. “Dom, it doesn’t matter if it hurts. Not really. Not physically. Abuse isn’t always about physical pain. It’s psychological as much as anything. I’ve watched you guys interact for a while now and, even from the beginning, it always seemed…like you were just a little afraid of her.”

This time, Dom did turn away. He barked out a laugh, harsh and brittle. “I’m not _afraid_ of Letty. Jesus. You’re fucking mental.”

“Then break up with her.”

Dom dropped the lug nut he’d picked up. It clattered to the ground, bouncing loudly off the concrete. Brian waited, silent, for Dom to turn around again. He didn’t. “I can’t.”

“Why?”

This time Dom did turn back. He spun around to stare at Brian with wide eyes. “Are you joking? Have you met Letty? She’d fucking explode, Brian. If you think the little you’ve seen of her temper is bad, you’ve got a rude awakening coming, brother.”

Brian raised an eyebrow at this. “So you’re telling me that you can’t break up with your girlfriend, not because you love her or you don’t want to or whatever, but because you’re afraid of what she’d do if you did. That’s what you’re telling me.”

Dom opened his mouth to deny the implication, but no sound came out. Brian was right. Fear punched through his system just thinking about Letty’s reaction, flooding his veins with adrenaline and sending his heart hammering in this throat. “ _Jesus._ ”

Brian reached out, wrapped a hand around the back of Dom’s neck, and just held on. It was comforting, Dom thought as he tried to wrestle his pulse back into order, to have Brian anchoring him. “Fuck, Dom. Dominic, just...Let me help you. Let me…something. There’s got to be something I can do, man. You don’t deserve this, any of this. You shouldn't have to deal with it at all, never mind on your own.”

Dom’s eyes slid closed at that. What a lovely thought. That Brian could somehow slip between Dom and Letty, act as a shield between them. Dom had never raised a hand in defense of himself against Letty, not even to catch her wrist and prevent a blow. He’s always been afraid that he’d hurt her or that she’d bruise and someone would see it. Never mind that he’d sported his own bruises, split lips, and cuts for years now. 

No one noticed. Or, Dom thought bitterly, everyone simply thought that he got into brawls. Never mind that Dom hadn’t been in a proper fight since about a year out from Lompoc. Never mind that the team spent most of their time together and he’d barely had a moment to himself to take a piss, forget the time required to go out and get into a fight. 

No one looked hard enough to see the truth. Not even Mia, who should have known better. 

The first time Letty hit him, a backhanded slap across the face, he’d deserved it. He knew that, whatever Brian might say. He’d stepped out on her with Johnny Tran’s sister (never mind that she’d dumped him two weeks before. When he’d pointed this out to her at the time, she’d laughed at him and told him that if he thought he was anything other than hers, he was a moron). So it didn’t really bother him.

He’d promised a hundred times that he’d never do anything like it again. And he hadn’t. But it didn’t stop the jealousy. He’d thought that it would dissipate after a few weeks, once Letty saw that she had no cause. That he barely even looked at other women.

It hadn’t. And neither had the backhands. They’d gotten harder, more force behind them. She’d split his lip a few times, leaving blood in her wake. At some point, the backhands had turned into claw marks across his chest or down his back, always doled out as a punishment and never during sex, where one might expect nail marks. 

One particularly memorable evening, Letty, hyped on the rush from the races and rage at the way the crowd had pressed in on him after he won, had planted herself in one of the armchairs in the living room and demanded that he strip and go to his knees in front of her. When he’d complied, she’d pulled a switchblade from her pocket, quicker than he could track even if he hadn’t immediately frozen to the spot. 

Sometimes, when he looked in the mirror after a shower, he still expected to see the thin red lines she’d carved into his torso that night. They’d all faded eventually, even the couple that scarred, but he couldn’t seem to get his brain to accept that.

“There’s nothing you can do, Brian. Just…Just leave it.” Dom’s voice was low and strained. He opened his eyes and looked at the other man.

Brian’s face was open in a way it only ever was with Dom. His electric blue eyes were warm with the same concern that shouted at Dom from every line of Brian’s body. Brian took a breath and tugged Dom forward a little by the grip he still have on his neck, to press their foreheads together. “When you’re ready. Whenever you need me, Dom. I don’t care what the fuck is going on with me or you or the team or anything else. If you call, I will be there in a fucking heartbeat. Whatever you need. Do you understand me? Whatever.”

Dom shuddered and finally reached for Brian, digging his fingers into the other man’s hips. “ _Fuck_. Yeah. Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you or a loved one are being hurt at home, please go to: https://www.thehotline.org
> 
> You don't deserve it. It's not your fault. No one has the right to hurt you.


End file.
